As expected, the Padres have requested pitching in the early stages of trade talks involving Juan Soto, while the Yankees have been choosy.

Because of their recent success in making the most of their organization’s arms, the Yankees are hesitant to trade the incorrect ones.

According to Jon Heyman of The Post, the team is attempting to hold on to Michael King and Drew Thorpe. King moved from being a great reliever to a potential starter at the end of last season.

Drew Thorpe, who is he?

The right-handed prоspect may have been the top minor league pitcher in his rookie season.

Among minor league pitchers, the 23-year-old topped the charts with 182 strikeouts in 139 1/3 innings pitched.

His 3.52 ERA, 0.98 WҺIP, and.199 batting average against ranked third among minor league pitchers with 20 or more starts.

Thorpe had 18 successful starts in High-A Hudson Valley, where he posted a 2.81 ERA, and then improved even further in his last five appearances at Double-A Somerset, where he posted a 1.48 ERA. He wasn’t just chosen as the top minor league pitcher by the Yankees, but by MiLB.com as the Pitching Prоspect of the Year for the whole system.

Thorpe was selected by the Yankees in the second round of the draft two years and six months ago out of Cal Poly. He was the 61st overall pick in the draft, when outfielder Spencer Jones was selected by the team in the first round.

Even though pitchers are throwing harder than ever before, Thorpe is still unable to fool radar detectors.

His five-pitch arsenal, which includes a top-tier changeup, has propelled him to the top of the prоspect rankings in no time.

His manager for the Hudson Valley, Sergio Santos, described him as “one of those guys [against whom] you might be comfortable in the box,” but in the end, he went 0-for-4 with a pair of groundouts, a punchout, and a pop-up.

Since Thorpe’s fastball rarely reaches the upper 90s, hitters may feel at ease. Rather, Thorpe’s success was based on his fastball, two sliders (a sweeping and a harder, spinning version), a cutter, and what the Yankees consider his “bread and butter” changeup.

Although Thorpe possesses a reliable pitch, he is not short of options.

In July, Thorpe stated, “It’s definitely easier — I always have something to go to.” The more into the game you get, the more I am able to mix and match. Seeing me𝚗 more than once is beneficial.

With the help of his mix and changeup, which he has relied on for the majority of his career, Thorpe was able to finish seven innings seven times in his final fifteen appearances of the season.

He made some adjustments to his high school offering, switching from a two-seam type to one that more closely resembled his fastball.

It mimics the appearance of his low-90s fastball when thrown from his hand, but it dives and slows down into the low 80s with a vertical movement. He struck out 284 batters in 223 innings pitched while he was a college pitcher, and since then, no professional hitter has been able to match his changeup.

A parachute appears to be concealed beneath it, according to Santos.

The offspeed that Thorpe possesses is directly proportional to his throwing velocity. His speed, which was never his strong suit, increased little during his rookie year on the pros.

One objective this offseason has been to maintain the improvements, and the Yankees, with Sam Briend at the helm of pitching, have proven capable of giving pitchers more speed.

Thorpe, who stands at 6 feet 4 inches and 212 pounds, stated, “Velo is not quite where I want it to be yet, but we’re still working on it.”

The Yankees can still try to persuade San Diego with other pitching alternatives if they are unwilling to provide Thorpe and King.

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Randy Vasquez and Jhony Brito both had promising first seasons.

Chase Hampton, Will Warren, Richard Fitts, Brock Selvidge, and Clayton Beeter are all possibilities that will garner attention.

Because they have one of the game’s top hitters on their roster, the Padres will be very selective in any trade offer.

The Yankees’ system hasn’t been great at developing batters, but they’ve been very good at developing arms, so that should help them if they want to steаl Soto.

“They got it down to a science,” Santos remarked of Briend’s pitching braintrust. For as long as we are able, we will continue to crank them out.